A Santee Dakota physician and author, born in 1858 near Redwood Falls, Minnesota. his Indian name was Ohiyesa, " The Winner." he lived as a wild Indian until he was fifteen when he entered a mission school at Santee, Nebraska. he made such progress that after two years he was sent to Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin. He was graduated from Dartmouth in 1887, and from the Boston University School of Medicine three years later.
Dr. Eastman was appointed Government physician at the Pine Ridge Agency and served there during the Ghost Dance disturbances. Later he was traveling secretary for the Y.M.C.A. and organized forty two Indian Y.M.C.A.'s. he became attorney for the Sioux at Washington and in 1903 was appointed to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
He found time to lecture, write nine books, including Indian Boyhood and From Deep Woods to Civilization, the story of his life, and help organize the Boy Scouts of America and the Camp Fire Girls. President Coolidge appointed him United States Indian Inspector in 1923. he died January 8, 1939.
"In the life of the Indian there was only one inevitable duty,
the duty of prayer, the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal.
His daily devotions were more necessary to him than daily food."
--Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa), SANTEE SIOUX